240 to 320 people.\u00a0<\/a>The shelter has been described as \u201clow-barrier,\u201d meaning individuals can access services without meeting strict requirements, such as sobriety.<\/p>\nDuring Wednesday\u2019s meeting, Mayor John Whitmire revealed new details about security plans for the facility. He said the site will have eight Houston Police Department officers and a sergeant assigned full time, calling it a \u201cmini-substation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whitmire also said the city\u2019s civility ordinance, which prohibits public camping and certain types of loitering in specific zones, will be extended to cover the area around the site.<\/p>\n
The measure passed with a majority vote, though one council member opposed the purchase, citing ongoing concerns about safety and community impact.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Edward Pollard, who represents District J, said he could not support the proposal, arguing it didn\u2019t fully address concerns from constituents. He also raised questions about ongoing operating costs.<\/p>\n
Immediately after Pollard\u2019s remarks, tensions rose when Whitmire called on Councilmember Twila Carter to respond to what he called \u201cmisinformation\u201d about the project.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Mario Castillo later proposed several adjustments to the plan, including starting occupancy at 25% and gradually scaling up. He also suggested relocating the main entrance to the back of the property to avoid long lines forming at the front of the building.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Whitmire suggested that 419 Emancipation was just a \u201cfirst step,\u201d and the site could serve as the first of several similar hubs envisioned across the city.<\/p>\n
According to the approved proposal, the city will finance the property purchase through reimbursement of the Equipment\/Projects Fund (Fund 1850), which will be repaid through various TIRZ funds.<\/p>\n
Got a news tip or story idea? Email us at newstips@khou.com<\/a> or call 713-521-4310 and include the best way to reach you.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston City Council approves a $16M homeless \u201csuper hub\u201d on Emancipation Avenue, with full-time HPD officers and new…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":304356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4345,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-341093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-texas","10":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115458339933027255","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}